Whiskey Dix brews culture of country chic in Aiea

Longtime restaurateur Ed Wary marks the grand opening tonight of Whiskey Dix in Aiea, his first nightclub, right above his Dixie Grill restaurant.

Why the name? "It’s a whiskey bar above Dixie (Grill)," duh, said Wary.

"It wasn’t until after we selected the name that I got a few giggles," but he forged ahead nevertheless.

Giant Jenga, Connect 4 and four-person Pac-Man: Battle Royale games are available to all patrons, even if they’re not wearing a cowboy hat, jeans, boots or belt buckles the size of dinner plates.

A patron dubbed the interior "country chic," citing the lack of license plates and rodeo posters. While there are a couple posters, there is framed artwork, there are no televisions "and there are only two neons in the entire club" he said. "We took a different design approach … than a country-Western bar."

The crowd since Whiskey Dix’s recent soft opening has been about 90 percent military, but with officers and their wives as well as enlisted, Wary said.

The space years ago was home to the Pecos River Cafe. Wary has wanted it since he and then-equity partner Jim Hama­chek saw the Pecos crowd on a Friday night.

"It gave me chicken skin," Wary said. "You would not believe you were in Hawaii. The whole feel was Texas, with cowboy hats, boots, beer bottles wrapped in napkins," he said. "It was a natural, (given) the relationship and connection to Dixie Grill," Wary said.

However, completely unlike Pecos, "we don’t use glass, so (there’s) no chemical washing," there are no bottled beers, "only draft and cans," and cocktails as well as draft beers "are served in special compostable cups."

The bar serves "only booze and soft drinks that are made in America," with the exception of tequila, because you "gotta have tequila," he said.

The cocktails are craft cocktails, reflecting a recent and growing trend in mixology. Juices are fresh-squeezed each day, and spirits are infused in-house.

For instance, the Movie Theater Highball is made with rum infused with buttered popcorn; and the Bloody Mary is made with vodka infused with mirepoix, a blend of chopped celery, onion and carrot. Whiskey Dix also does its own oak-barrel aging of cocktails, another big mixology trend.

Lest that be too fussy for a cowboy far from home, "you can still get a standard Jack and Coke if you want," Wary said.

The bar also makes its own snacks, including smoked pistachio nuts, homemade beef jerky and Wary’s own version of Cracker Jacks, which includes mochi crunch, wasabi nuts and crisp bacon pieces.

The club has low-flush toilets in the restrooms, LED lighting and is working on permits to install solar panels, he said. The club was 80 percent built out using recycled or reused materials from Recycle Hawaii.

Regardless of interest in a country bar vibe, anyone 21 and older who wants to play Giant Jenga, as seen on "Big Bang Theory" recently, need only go to Whiskey Dix. The alternative would be to go to a lumber yard and hardware store to purchase the requisite wood, tape measure, saw and sandpaper. You’re on your own for lumber specs and dimensions for the Jenga pieces — oh, and you’ll also need sawhorses.

Wary is confident no other Hawaii bar or club has the giant Connect 4, because of the hoops through which he jumped to find the game in London and get it circuitously shipped to Hawaii.

Other games, including Namco’s 30th anniversary, four-player edition of Pac-Man also are available.

Wary recently wrapped up a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding with settlements. "It was the best thing I ever did," he said, expressing a wish that he’d done it a year earlier.

Meanwhile, back to the bar.

Private parties, military hail-and-farewell celebrations and more will be offered in the coming weeks, and parties too large for downstairs Dixie Grill may be routed upstairs, he said.

"Another positive is that we also have a higher ceiling than anyone else does," over the dance floor, which makes certain aerial types of country dancing a possibility in addition to the typical two-step and line dancing to the DJ who plays four nights a week.

"Watching some of these kids dance, it’s a kick," Wary said.

Tonight’s grand opening will feature Dita Holi­field and HillBilly House.

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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.